Sarine Returns to Profit in Third Quarter

RAPAPORT… Sarine Technologies recorded its first quarterly profit this year amid solid demand for its Galaxy diamond-mapping equipment.



Profit for the three months ending September 30 came to $234,000.
While the figure was 13% lower than during the comparable period a year ago, it followed consecutive net losses of $1.4 million in the
first and second quarters.


Revenue for the July-to-September period grew 21% year on
year to $14.2 million, as the company sold a record number of its mapping
machines for small diamonds. However, a higher proportion of the sales were from its less lucrative flat-fee plans, rather than those in which users pay per diamond scanned, which nets higher revenue, the equipment manufacturer noted.


Revenue in India, Sarine’s biggest market, climbed 41% to
$10.4 million. North American sales more than doubled to $792,000, while in
Israel, revenue fell 12% to $587,000. Sales slid 33% to $837,000 in Africa, and
dropped 63% to $231,000 in Europe.


For the nine months ending September 30, group revenue fell
21% to 36.7 million, with the company recording a net loss of $2.6 million for
the period. The loss stemmed from the challenging market in the first half of the
year, amid tightened bank credit to the Indian manufacturing sector, the
US-China tariff war, and weakened consumer sentiment in Hong Kong due to the
ongoing protests, Sarine explained.


The company also attributed the loss for the
January-to-September period to the decline in polishing activity, as miners reduced
the quantities of rough entering the market. This dented Sarine’s recurring
revenue from Galaxy scanning by 24% year on year.


Image: Sarine Technologies headquarters in Hod HaSharon, Israel. (Sarine Technologies)